Friday, August 4, 2017

We started the day cool and dry, with no dew.  The temperature is predicted to ‘soar’ to 75F (24C) today.  So, it was a good time to mow the  yard this morning, and do a little trim work on some shrubbery.  It certainly does not feel like a typical August day in SWIN, but we will take it!

The Gator hauls the tools and hauls away the clippings.

Other tasks that have taken place this week:

Truck servicing has begun.

Brandon polishes the wheels on the Pete, and services the bearings.

Aerial images of some corn fields have been taken.  Those are sent off to Drone Deploy, to be ‘stitched together’, and then an NDVI image can be generated.  These are helpful for analysis of the general health of the crop.  This summer is our initial experience with NDVI and Drone Deploy, and we are examining it to determine its value to our operation.

John prepares to launch the Phantom 4 on its latest mission.  When complete, it returns to its starting point… at least it has every time so far!

Washed the pickup.

Always feels better to drive a clean pickup.

A little bush hog work.

Working this riparian strip at Burke, the levee now has a cleaner appearance.

We performed the ‘set-up’ of the information systems for the JD S680 and the CIH 8230 combines.  Those should be ready to collect the harvest information into digital files.  We will also tie those into Climate Corp’s FieldView with a Bluetooth device that reads the proprietary info from the combine as it is generated, and then sends it to a waiting iPad in the cab of each combine.  That connects to FieldView, and we can see the harvest results of both combines almost in real time.  This FieldView is a simple way to blend together the information from both our CIH and JD systems.

Next week will likely see the first effort at preparing the combines for fall harvest.  That includes a cleaning, inspection, lubrication, and testing of the header control systems.

Have a nice weekend.  The weather in SWIN for our weekend will be spectacular!